Ahead of the 5th October reviews NDA, Lab501 posted their review of the Core i7-8700K six-core processor using samples not provided by Intel, paired with an Aorus Z370 Ultra Gaming motherboard. The tests reveal that the i7-8700K trades blows with the Ryzen 7 1800X in multi-threaded tests, despite two fewer cores, and has a clear leadership in single-threaded tests. It also reveals that the i7-8700K may not be as pricier than the i7-7700K as previously thought. Interestingly, the i7-8700K also spells trouble for "Skylake-X" Core i7 SKUs such as the i7-7800X and i7-7820X, as it offers multi-threaded performance in proximity to them, while being cheaper overall.

The Core i7-8700K is able to sustain its Turbo Boost frequencies of 4.20 GHz better than Intel's other Core X HEDT chips, which translates into higher gaming performance. The tests reveal that today's games still don't need six cores, and on the merit of high sustained clock speeds alone, the i7-8700K is shaping up to be among the fastest processors you can choose for gaming PC builds. Lab501 also got the i7-8700K to overclock to 5.1 GHz with relative ease. The chip runs feisty hot at overclocked speeds, but rewards with HEDT-like performance. Find other interesting findings of Lab501 in the source link below.

As expected, doesn't look like it brings more benefit in gaming over 6700/7700, but great cpu overall. Though all this z270 incompatibility nonsense definitely won't make me switch from 2-year old 6700k until at least Ice Lake and Zen 2.

cryohellinc said:Impressive performance, however they use Tooth Paste again, and that is my main issue with this. Besides you need yet another new mobo...

Will wait for next Ryzen for comparison, as apparently the 12nm version will come this February.

Lets wait and see what happens then. Am4's longevity + solder is more attractive to me than 10 extra fps.

But lets wait and see.

Weird... 5.1ghz overclock with toothpaste... must be terrible to work at stock and be able to overclock to 5.1ghz on toothpaste..

PS - 5.1ghz was on air... they benched cinebench at 5.2 and pifast at 5.3......all on that 'toothpaste' ...

Of course, a single copy can not set a rule, the second copy of the Intel Core i5 8600K that you will soon see in a very interesting article running stable at 5GHz with 1.35v. However, all the marks we have collected from other industry colleagues indicate that most 8600K copies can run stable at 5GHz with acceptable voltage.This means that 5GHz in everyday use, for a processor equipped with 6 cores, cooled on the air, has just become a reality!

goodeedidid said:People should try educate themselves for the reasons of using TIM. So many ignorant people see something online and repeated it without knowing why and they try to pretend to be smart. omg

Yeah, what i saw most is this new "hit", people doesnot even knows why intel use TIM, instead of soldering.

EarthDog said:Weird... 5.1ghz overclock with toothpaste... must be terrible to work at stock and be able to overclock to 5.1ghz on toothpaste..

PS - 5.1ghz was on air... they benched cinebench at 5.2 and pifast at 5.3......all on that 'toothpaste' ...

Its fine until the TIM wears out, and then you have to delip and repaste the chip, which necessitates either potentially damaging your CPU or buying a tool for just that purpose.

Meanwhile, 10-15 years on, the soldered chip will work just as well as it did out of the box, as is evidenced by the plethora of old chips that still work fine.

On a 6 core CPU, there really should be solder.

goodeedidid said:People should try educate themselves for the reasons of using TIM. So many ignorant people see something online and repeated it without knowing why and they try to pretend to be smart. omg

And perhaps you should educate yourself on why people dont want TIM instead of solder. omg.

goodeedidid said:People should try educate themselves for the reasons of using TIM. So many ignorant people see something online and repeated it without knowing why and they try to pretend to be smart. omg

Let's face facts, those whiners are not actually in the market for buying a faster CPU.

They just want a CPU at some point and think complaining about toothpaste to the market leader will make any difference for their future (whenever that is) purchase.

TheinsanegamerN said:Its fine until the TIM wears out, and then you have to delip and repaste the chip, which necessitates either potentially damaging your CPU or buying a tool for just that purpose.

Meanwhile, 10-15 years on, the soldered chip will work just as well as it did out of the box, as is evidenced by the plethora of old chips that still work fine.

On a 6 core CPU, there really should be solder.

And perhaps you should educate yourself on why people dont want TIM instead of solder. omg.

It doesn't matter what people want, especially people who don't understand what they are talking about. Intel is not a government organization to jump at the whim of every unsatisfied baby. Even der8auer defends Intel for using TIM because he knows exactly why, while you don't.

To say somewhat i'm impressed. This actually is a decent chip if priced correctly like around the Ryzen 7 1700(X) which is what most people chose over the pricer 1800(X). If i didn't already go ryzen i may have considered this. Awaiting more reviews

Vayra86 said:Let's face facts, those whiners are not actually in the market for buying a faster CPU.

They just want a CPU at some point and think complaining about toothpaste to the market leader will make any difference for their future (whenever that is) purchase.

Its a bit sad IMO

I don't have any issues with unsatisfied consumers if their arguments are justified with good reasoning. But people who copy and paste phrases like tooth-paste that they saw online are automatically discarded by me as trash-opinion.

TheinsanegamerN said:Its fine until the TIM wears out, and then you have to delip and repaste the chip, which necessitates either potentially damaging your CPU or buying a tool for just that purpose.

Meanwhile, 10-15 years on, the soldered chip will work just as well as it did out of the box, as is evidenced by the plethora of old chips that still work fine.

On a 6 core CPU, there really should be solder.

And perhaps you should educate yourself on why people dont want TIM instead of solder. omg.

Show me all those systems you're still running with 15 year old soldered chips in them, please. It'll be nice vintage hardware to look at.

Also, while you're at it, show me a dried out TIM under a non-delidded Ivy Bridge, because that's the oldest toothpaste chip in the portfolio. I'll let you know, I have one, and it performs 100% identical to what it did on day one.

8600k does quite well too. Combines gaming of a 7700k (mins aren't great, but overclocking fixes that issue and makes it about as fast as a oc-ed 7700k when it comes to mins) and the raw power of a 1700 (on average) for 1600x money!

8700k is a bit too expensive for me, but the 8600k's price/performance is at least on par with ryzen I think (again, on average) and as a casual content creator my very much free programs prefer singlethread performance and games of course still LOVE high clockspeeds, although more cores never hurts. I game at 1440p though, so I want the high mins of an oc-ed 8600k or a 8700k, not so much the averages or highs, but the mins are just that much higher than on ryzen still and I can't wait for the 12nm refresh, so coffee lake seems like the best option atm.

Welp there goes the entire Ryzen lineup. This thing is even faster than a 7700k in gaming!? A bit faster in multithreading than their fastest model with 2 less cores!? Can overclocked to 5GHz and beyond DDR4 4200!? Price drop panic mode incoming.